lay a whisper
by gathers-no-moss
Summary: five times Kate tells Jack she loves him.


**Title:** lay a whisper  
**Rating: **PG-13  
**Summary: **5 times Kate says 'I love you' to Jack.  
**Author's Notes: **Honestly, this is just bits and pieces of stories I had laying around, so I thought I might try to combine them into one fic.

* * *

The words feel like they've always been there. A burn inside her heart for weeks – months – _years_. So when she finally gets the chance to say them – she never ever lets him forget.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She whispers them late at night into his sweat soaked skin; legs intertwined with his and fingers tracing undecipherable shapes and words across his chest.

"I love you."

She feels his heart skip a beat against her cheek and his hand tightens around her hip as he kisses the top of her head.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kate says his name like it's fragile. A whispered prayer that encompasses everything about him. Beautiful and simple and _hers_.

"Jack."

She steps over the threshold and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Pausing behind him, she slides her hands around his waist and clinches his shirt tightly between her fingers, pressing a kiss into his back. The anguish of another life lost - of someone else he couldn't save rolls off him in waves, and she feels him shudder beneath her hands. She tries to take the pain away the only way she knows how to.

"I love you."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Jack stumbles, curses. Kate laughs and laces her fingers through his, tugging gently as she leads him up the rest of the stairs - a sway in her hips and a teasing twinkle in her green eyes.

At the top, he brushes his lips just below the line of her jaw. She arches, and suddenly she's twirling in his arms and walking backwards until her back bumps against the closed door to their bedroom. She gasps and shivers race down her spine as Jack draws lazy circles against her thigh, kissing his way down her neck before sliding both hands underneath the dress shirt of his she's wearing.

Her pulse picks up speed, the familiar surge of want and need making her stomach tighten and tremble and her cheeks flush with desire. He lifts her and she wraps her legs around his waist, wraps her arms around his neck. Her eyes lock with his, identical looks of amazement and wonder found, their lips brushing with every heavy breathe.

"I love you."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She pours everything she's ever felt for him into that kiss. Every moment. Every touch. The lifetime she'll never get to have with him. Every word that will be left unspoken.

Except for those three words. She wants those to be the last ones she ever says to him. For there to be no doubts. It will always be him.

"I love you."

Forever.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Forever.

That's what they have now.

Daylight finds them in a sanctuary of naked skin and warm sheets. Its brilliant light streaming through the open window, splashing their bodies in hues of golden colors. Jack's hand curves over her hip protectively and she nestles her head against his shoulder more securely.

It's not _like_ heaven. It _is_ heaven.

Only when Jack's fingers start a teasing trail up and down her spine, does she move, her legs restless, her body aching. Despite the coolness of the morning, she lets the sheets fall into the curve of her waist, and uses her arm to prop her head on top of his chest. She does this just to watch the way Jack's eyes flutter open slowly, hazel clouded with sleep, but already lazy with desire. Kate watches the way his mouth parts slightly to taste the morning air, boyish and greedy as his fingers continue rubbing circles across her bare back. She traces the plains of his face first with her eyes and then with her hand, running it smoothly along the light stubble covering his jaw before brushing her thumb against his bottom lip.

He smiles into her light touch and kisses her thumb.

She smiles back and leans up and over him, hair falling in a dark curtain around their faces, the shared intimacy of their smiles and desire concealed from the rest of the world.

"I love you."


End file.
